Mysterious creature attacks animals in Shelby County, Kentucky

Intelligent unknown creature slaughtering and not eating live stock in Kentucky and evading hunters, traps and trail cams.

Possible Print ?

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) Posted: Dec 12, 2012 --

A mystery in Shelby County has people on high alert.

Something is on the prowl, attacking animals and leaving them for dead.

People say a creature attacked nine goats and about three to four calves in the past couple weeks.

Rust Newton, Deputy County Judge Executive, says, "It's not doing it to kill the animal to eat, these animals are just being mulled. That's where
the mystery is at this point."

Neighbors say it lurks in the woods, and only comes out at night.

No one has seen the creature, but people are on the lookout. A couple found what they believe are tracks from the animal.

Frank Edwards lives in the area. He says, "We've got trail cameras out, we've got traps out it's like it's smarter than we are." County
officials are holding a meeting Monday night at 6:30 in Waddy to inform neighbors.

The print looks like a big cat but they are supposedly extinct in Kentucky.

Despite eyewitness accounts, it is unlikely that a cougar would be hunting in the mountains of Letcher County — or anywhere else in Kentucky for
that matter, said a spokesman with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife in Frankfort.

“There’s nothing documented that there is one in the state,” said Mark Marraccini. “We haven’t had any confirmed sightings at all. While
they are native to the state, they have been absent for over a century.”

Cougars are officially classified as extinct in Kentucky, and wildlife officials believe that people who think they saw a cougar must have
actually seen a large bobcat. Bobcats do roam eastern Kentucky, where they hunt small prey such as rabbits, squirrels and rodents. Bobcats have short
tails and can grow to about 20 to 45 pounds. Cougars have much longer tails than bobcats and can weigh anywhere between 80 and 200 pounds.

Goats and calves may be a tad bit to big for a bobcat to take down and even so, these animals are not being hunted ... They are being slaughtered.

That's a mountain Lion, Cougar track.
Don't believe that their "extinct" around ANY area. They can and will thrive in any area where there is cover (woods) and game to eat.
There weren't supposed to be any in Lower Michigan either and when I saw one in 1985 and reported it the local law enforcement laughed at me and
made jokes. Then more sightings started happening and dead animals started showing up.

I live in Arizona and Big cats are a part of life here and I am VERY used to them. I would bet money that's what this is and for sure that's what
the track s from.

Kharkiv, Ukraine. A russian man wakes and is met with a terrifying sight. his rabbit farm has been raided overnight by what he suspect to have
been a Chupacabra.

Chupacabra (goat sucker) is a legendary cryptid rumored to inhabit parts of the Americas. i have no idea how it made it all the way to the Ukraine,
but regardless, 73 of the poor critters were found dead.
Some were aledgedly smothered in their cells, while most of them were found scattered around the yard. all with neck injuries and broken bones.

Foot prints similar to those made by a dog were spotted. the beast just nudged the gate a bit and made it's way in, while the two guard dogs
never made a sound. almost as if they were too scared.

Looks like a Mountain Lion track to me. They'll follow a hurd of deer and kill every last one of them. That's what they do. Our Game Commission here
in PA. were denying their existence for years before people started killing them. My fathers friend killed one during Fall Turkey season the other
year. It had a collar on it's neck with a tag that said it was from Montana. Evidently the Game Commission here in PA. swapped Turkey for Cougars in
order to control the deer population. But they underestimated their rate of reproduction and now we have a lot. But anyhow... that's a Mt. Lion track.
Or a big German Shepherd.

Cougars are not extinct in Kentucky. I've lived in Kentucky all my life and know people who have gotten pics of them on their trail cams. One of
them told me that he spoke with someone who works with fish and wildlife and when that person is in uniform, he will say that they do not live here
because they don't live east of the Mississippi. When that same guy is out of uniform, he will tell you that cougars are absolutely alive and well in
Kentucky. I don't know what all the secrecy is about, but it's annoying.

A few months ago, there was an article about a cougar that was visiting our local lake. The article included a pic that a neighbor had taken of the
cat.

Five or six years ago, I saw what I believe to be a small cougar in my own back yard. While I can't confirm that it was one, I really don't know what
else it would have been. House cats don't grow that large and bob cats (which are fairly common here) don't have long tails.

So, I have no doubt that the animal in question is a cougar. I just don't get why it's such a damn secret.

S&F for you. I hadn't heard this on anything local yet so interesting finding it here.

I live in Louisville but have been hearing the big cat debate for decades now, for and against them being extinct in Kentucky. Many people have been
out there for years trying to prove big cats are here with no success.

Thing that gets me is whatever it is, is just slaughtering and not eating these animals. Seems like whatever the creature is it is just hunting for
sport.

The print was taken as what they "THINK" may be doing it, not as proof of the creature killing the animals.

Me personally, living in the city I have never seen a big cat around but I am open minded to the possibility but for all those saying there are big
cats in the state another person is debunking the idea ...

Cougars didn't exist here in Upper Michigan till a few years ago even though many people had seen them for thirty years including bus drivers and
police officers. I guess unless you have a degree it is impossible to identify one of these cats. With the invention of the trailcam the cougar now
exists here, in fact they are all over the place. Some radio collared ones are even coming here from by Yellowstone now to visit their relatives. I
guess this place is considered the Noahs Ark of the USA by the animals.

It could be the ever elusive and deadly "Jag-U-Lar".
Winnie the Pooh's buddy Tigger has warned us of these creatures for many years.
The reason the kills are not eaten? The "Jag-U-Lar" is a vegetarian.

I said these were big cat prints but after researching this awhile I believe that not to be true anymore. Was reading that all cats retract their
claws while walking, Is this not true? That would make the prints canine then, right? Either the predator is a big dog or these could simply be prints
of a dog someone saw close by one of the slaughtered animal's ...

The foot pad looks typical feline but a different shot would tell more as would a second track. Cats will sometimes extendtheir claws in poor footing
to gain more traction. That appears to be what happened here. However lack of a second print particularly in this type of ground environment lends
credibility to a hoax. Let me see a set of prints not just one. One print lends to poor tracking ability. One pic of one track lends itself to hoax.
however big cats do live here in Ky. but Shelbyville is a bit west for them.

Originally posted by mwood
That's a mountain Lion, Cougar track.
Don't believe that their "extinct" around ANY area. They can and will thrive in any area where there is cover (woods) and game to eat.
There weren't supposed to be any in Lower Michigan either and when I saw one in 1985 and reported it the local law enforcement laughed at me and
made jokes. Then more sightings started happening and dead animals started showing up.

I live in Arizona and Big cats are a part of life here and I am VERY used to them. I would bet money that's what this is and for sure that's what
the track s from.

I agree. It looks like cougar/mountain lion.

As a young teen I got to volunteer at a wildcat rescue refuge where mostly "domesticated" raised in captivity as pets cougars, and other wild cats
were taken.

The cougars are amazing, and much much much smarter than you will want to think you think they are.

Wonderful kittys. Very affectionate, willful, full of individual personality, very demanding and often testy.
That's captive raised cat though.
I'd expect a cat raised in the wild to be all the more in tune with its environment.

Then again, this could be a captive raised cat either escaped, or purposely released after the owner found it too much a chore to look after. In that
respect it'd know people all too well, and certainly be attracted to human habitated areas in making association that people means food is close.

Jaguars, the third-largest cats after lions and tigers—and the biggest in the Western Hemisphere—used to live here. During the 18th and 19th
centuries they were spotted in Arizona, New Mexico, California and Texas. Sometimes the cats roamed as far east as North Carolina and as far north as
Colorado.

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